Method and device of a plate for providing a surface for attachment of a chin pad on a baseball or softball fielders face mask.

ABSTRACT

A method and device of a plate for providing a surface for attachment of a chin pad on a baseball or softball fielders face.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

I hereby claim the benefit under Title 35, U.S.C. §119© of a U.S.Provisional Patent Application filed on Mar. 17, 2010 and having serialNo. 61-340381.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Broadly, an embodiment of the present invention generally provides amethod and device for providing a surface for attachment of a chin padon a baseball of softball fielder's face mask.

Recently, person's engaged in Baseball or Softball sports have begun toutilize a protective face mask when playing defense to prevent injury tothe face. In the use of a protective fielder's face mask in baseball andsoftball, it is necessary for the protective face mask to include a padfor the wearer's chin to protect the chin from impact.

Current designs of protective fielder's face masks utilize a part of themain frame member of the face mask body to attach the chin pad to themask. The current designs include, but are not limited to, the followinglimitations and/or shortcomings:

1) Lack of versatility in positioning the chin pad placement.

2) Lack of versatility in providing selective chin pad sizes

3) Lack of versatility in allowing the chin pad and chin pad attachmentportion to match in terms of curvature and shape.

The current designs are further limited in efficient construction anddesign as a result of having to utilize part of the main frame member ofthe face mask body to attach the chin pad to the mask. Because the mainframe member of current designs must be large enough to provide asufficient surface to attach a chip pad, the resulting designs areheavier, more bulky, and obstruct a player's visibility, whichnegatively effects the players ability to perform their best whilewearing the protective face mask.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there is provided a plate forproviding a surface for attachment of a chin pad that solves theseproblems in a manner unknown heretofore. The present invention iscapable of providing the manufacturer with the ability to manufacturethe main frame member of the protective face mask in a lighter, lessbulky, and less visually obtrusive design since the plate is utilized toprovide a sufficient surface to attach the chin pad.

The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplatedmodes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. Thedescription is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merelyfor the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention,since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.

Various inventive features are described below that can each be usedindependently of one another or in combination with other features.However, any single inventive feature may not address any of theproblems discussed above or may only address one of the problemsdiscussed above. Further, one or more of the problems discussed abovemay not be fully addressed by any of the features described below.

The method and device of the use of a plate for providing a surface forattachment of a chin pad on a baseball or softball fielders face maskinclude, but is not limited to, the following advantages:

1) Providing a stronger base for the attachment of the chin pad

2) Providing a more secure adhesion of the chin pad to the fielder'sface mask

3) More versatile positioning of the chin pad for the wearer

4) More versatile in providing selective chin pad sizing.

5) More versatile in allowing the chin pad and the plate to match interms of curvature and shape for more secure attachment.

An embodiment of this material and/or process can be sized and shaped tofit any design and/or shape it is needed for.

An embodiment of this method could be applied to any and all baseball orsoftball protective face masks to assist in attachment of a chin pad.

It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates toexemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as setforth in the following claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention constructed inaccordance with the teaching of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a protective face mask,generally designated Ref. 11. The plate, designated as Ref. 10, which isconstructed in accordance with the teaching of the present invention, isutilized to attach a pad for the wearer's chin Ref. 12, to theprotective face mask Ref. 11.

It can therefore be seen that according to the present invention, thereis provided a novel plate Ref. 10 that solves limitations in terms ofdesign and construction that exist in current designs due to theinability to attached a pad for the wearer's chin Ref. 12 to theprotective face mask Ref. 11.

While the invention has been described with respect to a preferredphysical embodiment constructed in accordance therewith, it will beapparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications andimprovements may be made without departing from the scope and spirit ofthe invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the invention isnot to be limited by the specific illustrative embodiment, but only bythe scope of the appended claims.

1. A method and device of a plate for providing a surface for attachmentof a chin pad on a baseball or softball fielders face mask.